Welcome to Slovakia, the host of the 2011 WC- some general info and fun trivia

Welcome to Slovakia, the host of the 2011 WC- some general info and fun trivia

Okay, so it doesn´t happen too often that we actually have such an event like the IHWC happening here in Slovakia, so I thought I might very well use it to tell you a few things about my country (thanks to being hockey fans I hope that unlike most of the rest of the world you at least have heard of this tiny lil place), because I guess the only source of info most of you ever got was from movies like Eurotrip or Hostel, but even more so I´d like to use this thread to show the atmosphere of the WC here and what it means for us to be hosting this events (this is mostly directed to NA fasn as I guess the other Europeans have already been there a few times) and therefore I´d like to introduce you to soem projects that connect to the 2011 IHWC in Slovakia. This thread can also be used for questions you have about the 2011 IHWC in Slovakia or your impressions and I´d also like to encourage my fellow Slovak members to post here and to add what I have left out. So, I hope you all enjoy this!

Slovakiaingeneral

Official name: Slovak RepublicLocation: In Central Europe neighbouring Czech republic in Northwest, Austria in Southwest, Hungary in the South, Ukraine in the East and Poland in the North

History of Hockey in Slovakia, from Slovak federation´s website:
Canadians are justly proud of their bringing ice hockey - one of the most tremendous games to the whole world. Overseas it was already played in the last century but began entering Europe step by step, too. The first European Championship took place in 1910. During that time Canadian (ice) hockey was a rival to bandy hockey and definitely took the lead after the Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924.

Bandy hockey was number one in Slovakia, too. Canadian hockey got only popularised during the European Championship in High Tatras in 1925.

The year 1929 is the milestone of the ice hockey in Slovakia, when the first volume of the Tatra Cup (the second oldest tournament in Europe - after the Spengler Cup) was organised in Starý Smokovec. Two days later, on January 31st, 1929, the first Slovak hockey organisation was established under the name of Slovenská župa kanadského hokeja as a part of the Czechoslovak Ice Hockey Federation.

The founding members were Ski klub Bratislava, ŠK Slávia Banská Bystrica, ŠK Vysoké Tatry, ČsŠK Košice and ŠK Žilina. So the hockey finally got its "mother" organisation in Slovakia and this date is considered as the initial day of history of ice hockey in Slovakia.

The first organised competition, The Slovak Championship, was launched already in 1930 and the first Slovak team managed to fight its way to the National Czechoslovak Hockey League in 1936. It was the HC Tatry. The university club VŠ Bratislava became the second participant the following year.

The first Slovak player included into the Czechoslovak National Team was Ladislav Troják, player of HC Košice. In 1934 he left for Prague to play for LTC Praha, one of the best hockey clubs in Czechoslovakia those times. That was a springboard to the representation team for him. Neither did he staid away from the Team Czechoslovakia at the Winter Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936, where the representation selects ended up on the 4th place. However the clouds of fascism and the World War II had already been flying over the Europe then.

After the disintegration of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and during the time of establishment of Separate Slovak State the Slovenská župa kanadského hokeja changed to the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation and the first Slovak National Team resulted from that change. The Slovak representation selects played 10 international games with the balance of 3 wins, 2 ties and 5 losts in period between 1940-1943. In country under the High Tatras ice hockey was generally enjoyed by public, particularly where the natural conditions were suitable. Banská Bystrica, for example, was one of such towns and had the largest number of players representing Slovakia.

The Slovak Ice Hockey Federation became a part of the Czechoslovak Ice Hockey Federation after the World War II and four Slovak teams (ŠK Bratislava, VŠ Bratislava, ŠK Banská Bystrica, HC Vysoké Tatry) participated to the restored national competition.

The first post-war World Championship was played in Prague in 1947 and Team Czechoslovakia again also consisted of Ladislav Troják, who unfortunately died at the air crash over the La Manche together with 5 other members of National Team. It was his fifth championship. Matej Buckna, Slovak of Canadian origin was a Head Coach of the National Team.

Many more Slovak teams like VŠ Bratislava, ŠK Banská Bystrica, Žilina, Poprad (for 5 seasons) were introduced to the national competition during the first decade after the World War II. Only the HC Slovan Bratislava, where the best hockey players (also from villages) started to assemble, managed to hold their permanent place there. It was particularly their contribution to arising the number of the Slovak players in the National Team during the 50-ties.

Bratislava hosted the world hockey elite in 1959. One group of the World Championship was played there. Canadian National Team enjoyed great interest together with the Team Czechoslovakia. The cradle of ice hockey was represented by the club Belleville McFarlands. It was them (Czechoslovakia and Canada), who were promoted to the final round played in Prague. That championship had an enormous share on the further popularisation and development of ice hockey in Slovakia.

Hockey statues, there will be together 21 and after the IHWC they will be auctioned and the money will go to Slovak youth hockey

Billboards all over the country:

And finally some ineteresting facts:

The Slovakia fanclub
A few years ago the fanclubs of most teams from the Slovak Extraliga have agreed to create one big fanclub for the 2011 IHWC. As a part of the preparations they have been playing an annual ball hockey tournament amongst themselves. Originally they wanted more than 1000 tickets, but in the end they got only around 200. They will be the ones responsible for the atmosphere during Slovakia games and it will be interesting to see how they´ll do as drums for example aren´t allowed.

The anthems
Lots has been said about the official anthems and the various unofficial ones as well and you can listen to them in the anthem thread, but one things stays the same- the old Slovak NT anthem Nech Bože dá forever connected with the glory days of Slovak Hockey is the one that will be in the hearts of the fans forever.

Lyrics, my poor English translation

Nech Bože dá- May God give
May God give, May God give
we´re good enough for it
May God give, May God give
the winning goal
May God give, May God give
we´re playing it good after all
so that noone would forget us anymore

How many times have you already stood there alone?
How many wounds, there´s no sparing with that?
How many times have already been loosing?
How many times have you been standing in lee?

May God give, May God give
we´re good enough for it
May God give, May God give
the winning goal
May God give, May God give
we´re playing it good after all
so that noone would forget us anymore

So many stars and our doublecross
maybe glory nobody knows
a few tears you doon´t believe yet
in the morning the wind lifts into the ears

May God give, May God give
we´re good enough for it
May God give, May God give
the winning goal
May God give, May God give
we´re playing it good after all
so that noone would forget us anymore

Even when they´re already on their knees
each one of us is a bit beaten
that doesn´t mean anything for us
we´re never drunk with vanity

May God give, May God give
we´re good enough for it
May God give, May God give
the winning goal
May God give, May God give
we´re playing it good after all
so that noone would forget us anymore

Šťastný puk (The Lucky Puck)
The puck has been baptized by Peter Šťastný and is meant to bring luck to the Slovak team. It made a tour through the whole of Slovakia and has been so far touched by over 135 000 people live. You can watch videos of the pucks tour through the country here.(I chose the one where it is at the Final of an U10 tournament in the reconstructed Nepela rink, but you can view other as well)

There´s also been a song recorded for the puck´s tour:

Peter Cmorík and Marián Greksa- Voláme do boja- Hokej môže byť lepší (We call to battle- Hockey can be better)
Hey!Hey! Hey!Hey!Hey! Hey!
We´re with you on the ice, we´re with you in hell, we will set the hell on fire this night!
And the opponent can´t get away on his own feet, each one of us will instantly come to help!
We call to battle, we call everybody! This song will play until the morning!
We´re gasping for breath and the air is thin, God is chiming into the dressing rooms in vain...
And this nation knows it, it´s already boiling in everyone´s heart
We are the country of the winners tonight. Tonight we will all clench our fist
for the boys glory and honor, the double cross will bless us the golden goal
And this nation knows it, it´s already boiling in everyone´s heart
We are the country of the winners tonight. Tonight we will all clench our fist
for the boys glory and honor, the double cross will bless us the golden goal
Pressure 300 to 200. And the heart in the throat, either now or never again!
The thunder of our voices will strike wildly. Heaven will break into a happy weeping
And this nation knows it, it´s already boiling in everyone´s heart
We are the country of the winners tonight. Tonight we will all clench our fist
for the boys glory and honor, the double cross will bless us the golden goal
And this nation knows it, it´s already boiling in everyone´s heart
We are the country of the winners tonight. Tonight we will all clench our fist
for the boys glory and honor, the double cross will bless us the golden goal

The medals

The Jerseys are ready

Biggest Hockey Bar
During the IHWC the largest Hockey Bar in Europe will be open in Bratislava with a capacit of 2000 people.

My sme tu doma! (We´re at home here!) TV Spot

"Victory isn´t everything, but the will to win is."

"WE´RE AT HOME HERE!"

In the fight for the victory.

In the hardest fights.

Slovak legends are born.

Public transport

Fan Villages
There will be big Fan Villages in both Bratislava and Košice, AFAIK the tents are already built, but I couldn´t find the photos right now. Also in pretty much all Slovak towns and maybe even in villages there will be big screens in squares showing the games, so if you´re a hockey fan and you´re planning to visit Slovakia this is your best time to do so!

The news from the biggest commercial channel after the victory against Russia in the final, atmosphere in towns- Bratislava, Banská Bystrica during the game and hen the return of the golden boys.

An American view on the whole thing:

Quote:

My sme majstri: in more ways than one

There is a remarkable fact: when Slovakia lost the final of the 2000 World Ice-Hockey Championships to the Czech Republic, more than 30,000 people celebrated throughout the night on Bratislava’s SNP square.
As an American brought up on Vince Lombardi’s famous words (“Winning isn’t everything - it’s the only thing”), I was stunned by this reaction. After all, they had lost. What would happen if they ever won?
I found out this year. With the dramatic Peter Bondra goal in the 59th minute of the 2002 Ice Hockey World Championship game, Slovakia had for the first time in its short history won it all, 4-3 over Russia.
My sme majstri. We are the champions. That is now the well-deserved mantra of the entire Slovak nation, not just its players. I could go on and on about the feats of Bondra, Miro Šatan, Ziggy Pálffy, Ján Lašák and the rest of the hockey squad. But even the deft skills of these world-class - indeed, world champion - athletes could not overshadow what took place among the Slovak citizenry. It was unparalleled positive unity.
Because I was travelling for this magazine, I was fortunate enough to watch the tournament in different regions across the country. A game against Ukraine, for example, I saw in the spa town Piešťany, in a pizzeria with a crowd of tensely silent spectators. When Slovakia scored the winning goal in the final five minutes, the roar was deafening. Not on TV, mind you, but across the entire city. Slovakia 5, Ukraine 4.
Then there was a meaningless game against Russia - ‘meaningless’ because both teams had already advanced to the final eight regardless of the outcome. In Fiľakovo, a southern Slovak town of predominantly Hungarian-speaking citizens, I sat in the bar of the Penzión Pepita. The room was a steady hum of Hungarian. Except, that is, when it erupted six times to scream “Góóóóóól!” Slovakia 6, Russia 4.
In the central Slovak mining town Nová Baňa, I watched the quarter-final against Canada in a pub that features Communist wall decorations alongside framed photos of former PM Vladimír Mečiar. With Slovakia trailing 2-0, spirits were low. But then Bondra halved the deficit with a goal two seconds before the close of the second period, and old men were jumping and shouting, dancing with young women. “We can do it,” the whole bar sang. “We can do it, boys!” When the Slovaks scored two more goals at the beginning of the final period, a man in the corner shouted knowingly over and over again, “I told you we’d be winning by now! I told you!” And a tiny nation now fully believed that it could compete with anyone in the world. Slovakia 3, Canada 2.
The semi-final against the home team and tournament favourite, Sweden, I watched in Liptovská Kokava, a mountain village below the High Tatras. The pub was packed, every chair pulled up to the bar, where the TV shared space on a shelf with a bust of Stalin. Again, Slovakia fell behind 2-0. But the announcer, who was every bit as emotionally involved as the man to my right in worker’s overalls, reminded viewers: “We were also losing to Canada 2-0. Friends, our boys can do it!”
Then Miro Šatan - the man chanting Slovaks on SNP square in Bratislava would four days later call ‘God’ - scored with less than two minutes left to tie up the game and force overtime. Mayhem! Grown men and women were cackling like children, crying like new-borns and believing in themselves like I had never seen before. The Slovaks won on penalty shots, and again the nation rejoiced. Meanwhile, an utterly blissful and drunken pensioner grabbed me and planted a wet borovička kiss on my cheek as the announcer bellowed: “Slovensko proti Rusku! Slovensko proti Rusku vo finále!” Slovakia 3, Sweden 2.
I returned to my host city Spišská Nová Ves for the final. But of course you don’t need a play-a-play. Anyone with an even remote interest in Slovakia knows what happened next. Slovakia won. Finally. And a whole nation chanted in unison ‘My sme majstri sveta!’ (We are the champions of the world.) Slovakia 4, Russia 3.
The reaction afterwards was an unbridled outburst of joy. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to celebrate. Intoxicated but peaceful revellers hugged and kissed, dropped to their knees and shouted to the heavens “Ďakujeme!” They sang ‘We are the Champions’ and the Slovak National Anthem (see lyrics above) hundreds of times over and again, waved and kissed Slovak flags. Tens of thousands cried.
The papers said 50,000 people greeted the hockey heroes in Bratislava the next day on SNP square. My landlord - who had flown to Sweden for the title match - told me: “Not even when Communism fell were there that many people on SNP. This is unbelievable.”
Others went so far as to call the victory the birth of a new nation. “When I saw people’s responses on SNP Square, I realised that I was watching the modern Slovak nation being born,” said political scientist Soňa Szomolányi. “Most of the people on SNP were teenagers, people who don’t remember 1989 or [the Warsaw Pact troop invasion in] 1969. For the first time in recent memory, a public demonstration in Slovakia had nothing to do with history, oppression, politics or nationalism. It was a celebration of Slovakia’s potential.
“We now have a new Slovak generation - that of 2002. Our players demonstrated that we are a modern country able to compete with the best in the world.”
Added sociologist Miro Tízik: “We’ve seen an immense sense of resignation since 1989 concerning things outside our immediate families. As a result, Slovak society has become steadily more individualistic, with people retreating from public life into their own families. Many young people have been leaving Slovakia, because while they believe in their own abilities, they doubt that Slovaks as a society are able to achieve anything really meaningful.
“But then all of a sudden in those hockey matches, they saw that Slovaks together can achieve something.”

I am not Slovak, so I cannot completely relate to the emotions released May 11, 2002. But I do know this: the tournament was the most unforgettable and gratifying sporting event I have ever been lucky enough to witness. What took place here was remarkable. A people so long dominated by various kingdoms and regimes, overshadowed by their Czech brethren, scorned by more ‘developed’ western countries, and left behind by international groups like Nato rose up as one and seized the title of ‘majstri sveta’.
What a wonderful achievement! A country of just five million people (one of the smallest in the tournament) taking on the world and emerging as champion.
And not just on the ice. The way the Slovak people united was truly touching. An American friend in Spišská, who was equally amazed by the event, made a succinct point afterwards. “What was so incredible was seeing a whole nation come together for something good. Countries come together when they’re bombed. When do people ever come together for something positive?”
I can’t answer that. All I can say is: Thank you, Slovakia. Thank you for showing me again why this is such a special place. I celebrate for the Slovak nation. No-one deserves this more than you.
-Chris Togneri, with Tom Nicholson

- Bratislava Train Station - uf uf. Please, move as fast as you can from this place. Because the homeless will eat you, you will die on that smell and the Gipsy's will sell you everything , with perfumes beginning.

- Taxi drivers - many of them have a very big "WCH tax". That means, they taximeter is overclocked to 4-5 € per km.

- Burglars, Jolsters - they are everywhere (not only in Slovakia)

- long beer lines on the Bratislava Stadium - i dont know how it was in Kosice, but in the new Bratislava Stadium, it was horrible. In the pause i waited more than 15 minutes to my beer. So, my advice is to be dry in the game, drink after the game...

- Bratislava Train Station - uf uf. Please, move as fast as you can from this place. Because the homeless will eat you, you will die on that smell and the Gipsy's will sell you everything , with perfumes beginning.

- Taxi drivers - many of them have a very big "WCH tax". That means, they taximeter is overclocked to 4-5 € per km.

- Burglars, Jolsters - they are everywhere (not only in Slovakia)

- long beer lines on the Bratislava Stadium - i dont know how it was in Kosice, but in the new Bratislava Stadium, it was horrible. In the pause i waited more than 15 minutes to my beer. So, my advice is to be dry in the game, drink after the game...

thats my few words.

Hey, alko! Of course as I said every bit of input is appreciated, but this thread was meant to promote the good things. Obviously there are loads and loads of things about this country and this IHWC that I personally don´t like too, however what i was trying to do in here was to avoid the typical Slovak nature and negativism- nothing is ever good and if it is it will get worse as jcbio11 put it in the Team Slovakia thread. Everything in the worls has a dark side and we are no exception. Maybe you can create a seperate thread about some of the things that the visitors should beware, I´m sure they could use some of the advice (btw Bratislava taxi drivers already have a "foreigner tax" anyway). But I´d really appreciate if we could keep the nature of things in here positive (especially after the long time it took me to create this), there is enough negativism in Slovak press and media and between Slovak fans already (and everyone here knows that I´m very guilty of this myself), so let´s avoid it here at least in this thread.....Thanks

GCZ, yes Slovakia´s games have been sold out before the selling of seperate tickets for each game even started, Czech rep. should be sold out too....Bratislava´s two preliminary groups should be pretty packed....

A bit harder in Košice where there´s no Slovakia or CZE.....they need to cheapen the tickets for the games between the bottom feeders, who´s gonna pay 40 Euro for that? But at least the games between the top teams in preliminary round and the qualification round should get a solid crowd.....

I think play-offs have been sold out....

I´m not sure but I think they actually sold around 250 000 tickets si far (they wanted to sell around 350 000).....

Awesome introduction and some good reads. Thanks.
I will be at the world cup with a couple of friends from May 3rd for about a week to see some qualification round games. Really looking forward to this. We have no tickets yet, but I'm pretty sure it won't be a problem to get some.
Anyway, I'd also like to see some NHL playoff hockey while I'm there. Anybody from Bratislava here who knows a place that has some screens, shows the games and doesn't close too early?

http://www.riverfunzona.sk/en/ there will be 3 or 4 fan zones in Bratislava (one close to arena) with screens, cultural events, dj's and lots of beer etc.

I'm sure u will have a lot of fun in city, but i'm not so sure if u will get the tickets... Capacity of arena in BA is only 9300 for WHC, slovak and czech games are already sold out. You still have a chance to get some tickets, even before games (but minimal), but don't be surprised if you won't get any. If you want to be sure to see some games live, I recommend you to buy tickets from the official e-shop: http://www.iihf.com/channels-11/iihf...y-tickets.html

Awesome introduction and some good reads. Thanks.
I will be at the world cup with a couple of friends from May 3rd for about a week to see some qualification round games. Really looking forward to this. We have no tickets yet, but I'm pretty sure it won't be a problem to get some.
Anyway, I'd also like to see some NHL playoff hockey while I'm there. Anybody from Bratislava here who knows a place that has some screens, shows the games and doesn't close too early?

Hmm, watching NHL? I´m not sure, but it might be harder than you´d think.... even though every single bar in Bratislava will be showing hockey on screens, but there will be a huge focus on World Championship hockey, so I´m not sure....

Got a front-row seat for what I'm hoping to be Canada vs Sweden on the 9th in Kosice! So pumped! I'm Gonna be travelling from Hungary into Kosice a day or two before - any suggestions on cool things to do/see in the city?

This is a great thread - I didn't know much about Slovakia and this was very informative.

Few questions for you (or other Slovakian posters here) if you don't mind:
(mostly directed towards men's hockey specifically)
- where would you rank Slovakia right now in hockey?
- what would you say was the height of Slovakia's hockey history?
- who would you consider the biggest players/heroes/idols in Slovakian hockey (both current and all-time)?
- what would you say is the future of Slovakian hockey?
- there are 8-9k hockey players in Slovakia, but 6.5k are junior players and <2k are men. Does this mean that many kids don't pursue hockey beyond the junior level, or do a lot of them move on to leagues in other countries?
(this is assuming that the numbers relate to how many are playing within the country)
- how do the Slovak pro league and junior programs compare to other Euro leagues/programs?

That was more than a few questions, I guess this thread has just made me quite curious.

- where would you rank Slovakia right now in hockey? 7th, but we will go down in a close future

- what would you say was the height of Slovakia's hockey history? After the split with CZ, gold from 2002 WHC, 4th place in Vancouver 2010 ()

- who would you consider the biggest players/heroes/idols in Slovakian hockey (both current and all-time)? Dzurilla, Golonka, Stastny's... Palffy, Satan, Hossa, Chara

- what would you say is the future of Slovakian hockey? Big changes in hockey federation, slovak hockey league and with raising of young players are needed. Otherwise we will continue in the "free-fall". Hope this championship will help.

- there are 8-9k hockey players in Slovakia, but 6.5k are junior players and <2k are men. Does this mean that many kids don't pursue hockey beyond the junior level, or do a lot of them move on to leagues in other countries?
(this is assuming that the numbers relate to how many are playing within the country) That's a long story...

- how do the Slovak pro league and junior programs compare to other Euro leagues/programs? We have a lot to improve. Even in the comparision with historically worse hockey countries.

So pumped! I'm Gonna be travelling from Hungary into Kosice a day or two before - any suggestions on cool things to do/see in the city?

That depends on what do you prefer. First, you should definitely check Kosice's website. If you like sightseeing there is plenty of that on the main street. There are also some museums, botanical garden, zoo, watchtower, castle ruins. If you look at the site you will find something of your preferences.

This is a great thread - I didn't know much about Slovakia and this was very informative.

Few questions for you (or other Slovakian posters here) if you don't mind:
(mostly directed towards men's hockey specifically)
- where would you rank Slovakia right now in hockey? In the top 7. Exact position varies. When team Slovakia has its top guns, they can compete with anyone (see their records in last two Olympics, when they were able to ice all the best players - unlike in Nagano and Salt Lake; they're 2-0 vs both Russia and Sweden last two Olympics)

- what would you say was the height of Slovakia's hockey history? Well our independent history isn't long, so I'll say 2000s and still counting.

- what would you say is the future of Slovakian hockey? We'll get by. We always do. Despite all the catastrophic scenarios, nothing is ever as bad as predicted. The forward crops of our national team are slowly getting older, but our defense will feature guys like Sekera and Meszaros for years to come and if one of Panik, Tatar or Viedensky pans out, we're good.

- there are 8-9k hockey players in Slovakia, but 6.5k are junior players and <2k are men. Does this mean that many kids don't pursue hockey beyond the junior level, or do a lot of them move on to leagues in other countries?
(this is assuming that the numbers relate to how many are playing within the country) I guess so.

- how do the Slovak pro league and junior programs compare to other Euro leagues/programs? Not very well.

That was more than a few questions, I guess this thread has just made me quite curious.